>> pelley: tonight, deadly gunfire on one of the busiest streets in america. >> i heard approximately five to eight gunshots. >> pelley: at least nine people were shot in the shadow of the empire state building. elaine suu kyi han know is on the scene. nuclear talks breakdown with iran. we asked mitt romney what he would do as president. is it worth going to war to stop an iranian nuclear weapon? one of the greatest athletes of all time is banned from sport. armen keteyian reports and we'll talk to the head of the agency that says lance armstrong cheated. and our friday feature. "on the road" with steve hartman. why did steve go to sandusky, ohio? >> i don't want to say it's all because of me, but it is all because of me.

this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley reporting tonight from birmingham, michigan. >> pelley: good evening, we're coming to you from the town square in birmingham where we caught up today with mitt romney. more on that in a moment. but we will begin the broadcast tonight with another mass shooting in america-- this time in the heart of new york city. it left two people dead, including the alleged gunman and nine others wounded. elaine quijano has the story. >> reporter: the gunfire erupted just after 9:00 a.m. at the peak of the morning rush. it began when 58-year-old jeffrey johnson walked up to a former coworker around the corner from the empire state building. it ended a few minutes later when police shot johnson dead on fifth avenue. n.y.p.d. commissioner ray kelly. >> during a downsizing at the company about a year ago johnson

was laid off. in front of the building, johnson produced a pistol and fired at close range, striking his 41-year-old victim in the head. >> reporter: the victim, steve ercolino, was shot five times. police say johnson walked away, towards fifth avenue. a construction worker followed him and alerted two police officers stationed at the entrance to the empire state building. mayor michael bloomberg says surveillance cameras recorded everything. >> the tape clearly shows the guy has the gun out and is trying to kill the police officers. >> reporter: witness joseph cohen was just yards away. >> i never thought in my life i'd actually ever witness an actual gunshot. but when i started hearing multiple shots i knew at that point i needed to run somewhere and in the direction that i was running was actually towards the scene as opposed to away from the scene. >> reporter: it's not clear whether johnson shot at police, but the officers fired 16 rounds. we don't know if any of the nine wounded bystanders were shot

accidentally by police but authorities tell us many were injured by bullets that shattered against concrete. all are expected to survive. william toledo was in a building across the street. >> and i saw a young lady on the sidewalk, she was bleeding from a bullet wound in her leg and i also saw a gentleman who was lying flat on the sidewalk directly in front of the empire state building. >> reporter: police tell us that in a coincidence, security around the empire state building was on heightened alert this morning because of an unrelated phone threat. a law enforcement source tells us the shooter blamed the victim for not supporting his work while he was at the company and, scott, earlier this year both men had filed harassment complaints with police against each other. >> pelley: elaine, thank you. now to the presidential campaign. as we mentioned, we came to birmingham, michigan, today for an interview with mitt romney and his wife anne. on monday at the republican national convention in tampa,

florida, governor romney will become the party's presidential nominee. just before our interview today, though, he seemed to go out of his way to bring up a discredited charge against president obama, the old allegation that the president was not born in the united states. >> now, i love being home in this place where anne and i were raised, were both of us were born. anne was born in henry ford hospital, i was born at harper hospital. (applause) no one's ever asked to see my birth certificate. they know that this is the place that we were born and raised. (cheers and applause) >> pelley: why did you say that? >> we here in michigan, anne and i were both born in detroit and a little humor goes a long way. so it was great to be home, to be in a place where anne and i had grown up and the crowd loved it and got a good laugh. >> pelley: but this was a swipe at the president and i wonder why you took it. >> no, no, not a swipe. i said throughout the campaign and before there's no question about where he was born.

he was born in the u.s. this was fun about us and coming home and humor, you know... we've got to have a little humor in a campaign as well. >> pelley: you threw a little red meat at the conservative wing of the party there. >> no, this was all about being home in michigan, the place we were born and raised. >> pelley: but once and for all, for the record, you believe that barack obama is the legitimate president of the united states? >> i've said that probably 30 times by now and 31 certainly won't hurt. >> pelley: which ever candidate ends up in the oval office next january, one of his first challenges will be iran's nuclear program and that got more complicated today. talks over a u.n. inspection program broke down and there is evidence that iran has expanded its capacity to enrich uranium-- potential fuel for a nuclear weapon. here's bob orr. >> reporter: after seven hours of talks with iranian officials, the u.n.'s top nuclear inspector herman nackaerts, reported no breakthroughs.

>> discussions today were intensive, but important differences remain between iran and the agency. >> reporter: the international atomic energy agency wants access to a military site where inspectors believe iran may have conducted preliminary tests for developing a nuclear warhead. this new satellite photo shows buildings covered with pink tarps and fresh landscaping, signs the site may have been cleared of potential evidence. john alderman monitored iran at the state department. >> there are huge suspicions about what's happening at that site. until the world sees what's happening, until inspectors are allowed to go i think there are going to be huge concerns. >> reporter: iran also claims to have added hundreds of new centrifuges and another underground processing facility called fordow. inspectors say iran continues to enrich uranium to 20%, just one level below bomb grade. iran insists the uranium will be used for peaceful purposes but its actions continue to be

provocative. president ahmadinejad appeared on iranian television this week showing off new military technology. u.s. officials say there is no evidence that iran has decided to build a bomb, but israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, continues to signal a possible israeli strike on iran i can't be nuclear facilities. in a statement today, netanyahu said: >> reporter: now, u.s. official have counseled restraint telling israel over and over there's still time for diplomatic efforts to work but, scott, it's hard to find real optimism on any front. >> pelley: thanks, bob. there's not much optimism in syria, either, where there is growing concern that the dictatorship stockpiles of chemical weapons could get loose in the chaos of the civil war there. today we asked mitt romney what he would do as commander in chief on syria and iran.

is it worth going to war to stop an iranian nuclear weapon? >> we certainly have to maintain all options that we have, but iran becoming nuclear and potentially providing fissile material to hezbollah or other of the groups that are associated with that nation, the potential of those groups bringing that fissile material to our continent, even to the united states, that's unacceptable. no question in my view that we can put all manner of pressure upon the regime that's there but they have to also know that a military option is one which we would be willing to consider if they do not take action to dissuade a course t nuclearization. >> pelley: a romney administration would not allow an iranian nuclear weapon? >> it's unacceptable for this nation to have iran become nuclear, have a nuclear weapon. >> pelley: would you send u.s. ground troops into syria to secure loose chemical weapons? >> i think we have to also be ready to take whatever action is

necessary to assure that we do not have any kind of weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of terrorists. and whether that requires troops or whether that requires other action by our friend and allies there-- turkey is very involvedded, saudi arabia is-- but, of course, we have to retain the option to protect ourselves and our friend from weapons of mass destruction. >> pelley: what sort of threat to do the syrian chemical weapons pose? >> well, there's a wide array of potential threats but clearly the concern would be that some terrorist group-- whether hamas, hezbollah, al qaeda or others-- would receive the capacity to carry out a mass destruction, mass death type of event. and therefore america has to be ready, whether it's there or anywhere else in the world. >> pelley: we'll have more of that interview with mitt romney and anne romney next week as we bring you the "cbs evening news" from the republican national convention in tampa. late last night lance

armstrong-- arguably one of the greatest athletes of all time-- announced that he will not contest charges that he used performance-enhancing drugs. the charges had been brought by the u.s. anti-doping agency known as u.s.a.d.a. today u.s.a.d.a. banned armstrong from support and began the process of stripping armstrong if his cycling titles, including his record seven tour de france victories. armen keteyian has our story. >> reporter: at his peak, lance armstrong conquered mountains and vanquish it had competition. yet armstrong was never quite able to outdistance allegations and investigations that his wins were powered by illegal performance-enhancing drugs, despite his denials. >> we've proven time in and time out that we're clean. >> reporter: and his repeated insistence that he's never failed a drug test. but now he's given up the fight. "enough is enough" armstrong said in a statement released last night. "i know who won those seven

tours, nobody can ever change that." in june, the united states anti-doping agency accused armstrong and several of his former u.s. postal teammates of being part of a systematic doping program dating back to 1998-- including the use of the blood boosting drug e.p.o. the case was headed to arbitration, a process armstrong had blasted as one-sided and unfair. in may, 2011, exarmstrong teammate tyler hamilton told scott pelley on "60 minutes" that he repeatedly saw armstrong use e.p.o . >> i saw him inject it more than one time. >> pelley: you saw lance armstrong inject e.p.o.? >> yeah. like we all did. like i did many, many times. >> reporter: today at a big pro race in colorado there was little public comment from the riders, including former long-time armstrong lieutenant

george hincapie who was expected to testify against armstrong had the case gone to arbitration. >> i'll make a statement on that in the near future but for the time being i want to focus on the race. >> reporter: as for armstrong, a cancer survivor, his focus, he said, was now his family and foundation that has helped raise more than $470 million in the fight against the disease since 1997. peter flax, editor-in-chief of "biking" magazine says essentially the final wheel in this larger-than-life story is still spinning. >> there are a lot of people that hate lance and feel vindictive and there are people who will in a faithful way always support him. we'll have to wait and see how the legacy shades. >> reporter: it's not yet clear if armstrong will officially lose his yellow jerseys. today the international union in charge of cycling says it wants u.s.a.d.a. to explain its decision before rendering, scott, one of its own. >> pelley: thank you, armen. let's get more on this now from the head of the u.s. anti-doping

agency, travis tygart. mr. tygart, i wonder, what was the best evidence that the u.s.a.d.a. had that lance armstrong had doped? >> really it was the totality of the evidence. that made it so compelling and overwhelming. >> pelley: you say the totality of the evidence. did you have eyewitnesses, for example? >> we did. we had a number of eyewitnesses, confidantes who have never before come forward with information. we had analytical data. >> pelley: armstrong called your investigation a witch-hunt. >> yeah. i mean, it's a refrain we've heard from others who have been caught using dangerous performance-enhancing drugs to cheat sports so it's one we're familiar with. but there's absolutely no basis to it. we make our decisions solely on the evidence to bring a case or not bring a case. >> pelley: armstrong was no longer competing in cycling. he'd retired from the sport. i wonder why you felt it was

important to pursue this now? >> you know, look, i think it's a sad day for all of us who love sport when one of our heroes is shown to have cheated with dangerous performance-enhancing drugs but on the other hand, these types of cases send a powerful message to all athletes out there that their decision to play by the rules ethically and principally is an important one and one that's going to be supported. >> pelley: travis tygart, head of the u.s. anti-doping agency, thanks very much. >> thanks, scott. >> pelley: two americans were wounded today in mexico's drug war. they may have been hit by police bullets. and we're tracking tropical storm isaac when the "cbs evening news" continues. so now i can be in the scene. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function.

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and the keys as a tropical storm over cuba. now, if it moves north of cuba over the warm waters of the straits we could be looking at a stronger storm and look at tampa. as we go into monday afternoon there there may be a better potential for this to be a hurricane in the southeastern gulf of mexico when it makes its closest approach to the west coast of florida, again, late on monday afternoon. >> pelley: best you can tell it's going to skirt the coast of florida and head north of there? >> that's what it seems like right now, or stay a little bit more offshore. either way, it's not going to matter as far as the weather goes and here's why. the radar already this afternoon is showing indirect effects from this storm. i think the legacy of the storm as it stands right now, scott, is going to be extremely heavy rain, a very high flood threat and with sustained tropical storm force winds over a lot of the state, power outages could be a big problem as well. >> pelley: david, thank you. a wild shootout early today in

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>> pelley: the man charged in last month's movie massacre in colorado allegedly told a college classmate that he wanted to kill people four months before the shooting. the new disclosure about james holmes came from court documents released today. the alleged conversation about killing apparently occurred around the time that holmes began buying large amounts of ammunition online. a federal appeals court ruled today that the government may not force tobacco companies to put graphic health warnings on cigarette packages. labels ordered by the food and drug administration include pictures of diseased smokers. tobacco companies call today's ruling a victory for free speech. public health groups want the justice department to appeal. generations of children may not have known jerry nelson by name but they will e remember his

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begins with back pain and a choice. take advil, and maybe have to take up to four in a day. or take aleve, which can relieve pain all day with just two pills. good eye. birmingham, michigan, not very far from here lives a man a who does something better than just about anyone else. steve hartman met him "on the road." >> reporter: you're about to see a ringer. not the throw but the man who made it. >> did you see that? >> reporter: this unassuming senior citizen is actually a carnival huxter's worth nightmare. >> i'm going to play with this one right here. >> reporter: the problem is that 64-year-old peter drakos-- a car salesman from detroit-- is

good. too good. so good, in fact, that here at the cedar point amusement park in sandusky, ohio-- and at many other midways across the country-- management has put limits on the number of prizes any one person can win. >> i don't want to say it's all because of me, but it is all because of me. >> reporter: (laughs) still, peter takes them to the cleaners every time. on this day in just the first few minutes he'd already amassed a kennel's worth of dogs. this is a talent he seems to have been born with. he started playing these games at the age of nine and won enough stuffed animals that first year to give one to every single kid in his school. about 200. peter spent the next half century refining that gift. >> so we'll go here. >> reporter: incorporating the fields of geometry, physics and, ultimately, engineering. >> we can go about six high. >> reporter: today he is arguably the best in the world at carnival games. and although this is about as much as they'll let him win now, before they limited the prizes

it would almost disappear in his winnings. these shots are from a weekend at circus circus in las vegas. >> we couldn't even sleep in the rooms because you couldn't walk around the animals. it was wall-to-wall animals. >> reporter: which brings us to the down side of winning so many stuffed toys-- you win so many stuffed toys. what do you do with all these animals? >> i give them away, every one of them. >> reporter: conservatively peter says over the years he has donated about a quarter of a million toys to more than 50 different charities which, in my book, makes peter drakos a big winner-- win or lose. steve hartman, "on the road", in sandusky, ohio. >> pelley: and that's the "cbs evening news." for all of us at cbs news all around the world, i'm scott pelley. we'll see you monday from the republican national convention in tampa. good night.

we are following breaking news right now. investigators with the d.c. police tell us an officer was forced to shoot a suspect. it happened just a short time ago on fourth vote in southeast and we are told that that suspect was taken to the hospital in critical condition. we've got a crew on the way to the scene and we'll have more on that story as soon as we get that information from out in the field. 40 years behind bars, that's what a self-admitted kidnapper could get after entering a guilty plea today in montgomery county. his wild actions led police on a chase through four counties and it was all caught on the dashboard camera. our ken molestina live in montgomery now with more on the plea and the shocking video just out today. ken?